Monday, July 01, 2013 6:37 pm

Man to be sent to Mass. in Hernandez murder case

The Associated Press

A man arrested in Florida agreed Monday to return to Massachusetts to face a charge in the murder case against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Ernest Wallace, 41, faces a charge of accessory after the fact in the slaying semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. Wallace turned himself in at a Miramar, Fla., police station last week.

An assistant to Broward County Judge John Hurley said Wallace waived extradition Monday and agreed to go back to Massachusetts.

In a statement, prosecutors in Bristol County, Mass., said they have 10 days to pick him up. They gave no indication when they would do so.

Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated Lloyd's execution-style shooting near Hernandez's North Attleborough home on June 17. They say it happened after the two went to a night club a few days earlier and Lloyd, 27, spoke to people Hernandez didn't want him talking to.

Hernandez is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to murder. His lawyers say that the case against Hernandez is circumstantial and that he's eager to clear his name.

Prosecutors say Wallace and another man, Carlos Ortiz, were in the car with Hernandez when the three men picked up Lloyd on June 17, drove him to an industrial park and shot him five times. They have not said who fired the shots.

Ortiz is being held on a charge of carrying an unlicensed firearm in North Attleborough on the day Lloyd was shot. His attorney described Ortiz as a "gentle person" and said he had advised him to plead not guilty.

The three men are all linked to Bristol, Conn., where Hernandez grew up. Ortiz had been living in Bristol, and authorities had addresses for Wallace there and in Miramar.

Last summer, Hernandez, 23, signed a five-year contract worth $40 million with the Patriots. The team released him the day of his arrest, and he could face life in prison if convicted.